Andrew Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what technical support his Department plans to provide to the forthcoming elections in the Central African Republic.

Grant Shapps

The Central African Republic’s Electoral Authority needs to adopt, without further delay, a revised calendar for the holding of elections. Free, fair and inclusive elections are crucial for the Central African Republic’s future stability and progress towards reconciliation. The UK welcomes the Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court ruling that all citizens of the Central African Republic, including internally displaced people and refugees in neighbouring countries, have the right to vote in upcoming elections. The UK recognises the significant progress achieved in the voters registration process in the Central African Republic and emphasises the importance of the registration of refugees in neighbouring countries. The UK is supportive of an EU Electoral Observation Mission to the Central African Republic, subject to further discussions in Brussels later this year.